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pulled in front of the impressive and ancient county courthouse on Nash Street. The building was massive and gleaming with ornate fluted Corinthian columns and a recessed porch. It seemed to Cassie to be more courthouse than Wilson needed.
    â€œNo,” Rhodine said. “He doesn’t know we suspect he’s the Lizard King. At this point, he’s being held for interfering with a police officer. We’re hoping that when he sees you—the one person who knows more about him than anyone else who is still alive—it’ll shake him. He’ll know what we suspect the second you walk into that room.”
    â€œGood.”
    â€œAnd he’s waived his right to a lawyer at least for now,” Behaunek said from behind her.
    â€œThat fits,” Cassie said. “He thinks he’s smarter than anyone else. He thinks he’ll never get caught.”
    â€œSo far, he’s been right,” Puente said.
    Cassie tried to swallow but her mouth was dry.
    Behaunek said, “So it will just be you and him in the room. I imagine he’ll be quite surprised to see you in North Carolina.”
    Cassie nodded. Her hands were cold and her palms sweaty. She flexed her fingers in and out at her sides but kept her hands low so no one could see how nervous she was. “You’ll be watching everything?”
    â€œOf course,” Sheriff Puente said. “We’ll have a deputy right outside on the other side of the one-way mirror. The rest of us will be a few steps down the hall watching the monitors. We’ll have one camera tight on his face to record his reaction to seeing you the first time. The other one will be a two-shot of you both.”
    Behaunek said, “We discussed how far you should go, and you need to be careful. We can’t have anything on that video defense counsel can point to later and claim illegal coercion. If you start to go over the line, I’m going to open the door and break it up.”
    â€œGot it,” Cassie said.
    â€œDo you need anything before you go in there?” Sheriff Puente asked. “Water, or to use the bathroom?”
    â€œI need to check messages and use the bathroom,” she said.
    â€œPut on your game face,” Rhodine said as he opened the door for her. “We’re all counting on you. We know you won’t let us down.”
    â€œGee, thanks,” she said, fighting an urge to slap him.
    *   *   *
    CASSIE TRIED to tame her hair in the mirror and failed, then drew her cell phone from her purse. No messages from her mother about Ben, which was good. Isabel didn’t text or e-mail—she called. If Cassie didn’t answer immediately, she kept calling. Cassie hoped she could get through the interview without hearing from her mother.
    And there was nothing yet from the sheriff of Grimstad, North Dakota, where she’d made the short list of applicants for a much better-paying job as chief investigator. The sheriff there had promised to let her know his decision by the end of the day. Cassie checked her watch. It was 2:00 P.M. in North Carolina, noon in Montana, and 1:00 P.M. in Grimstad. She had hours to wait.
    Then she raised her head and looked into her own eyes in the mirror and tried to steel herself for what was to come. For two years, the Lizard King had been out there somewhere but still a constant part of her life. She despised him, and wished she could sever the link today, right now, by opening the door to his conviction and his death.
    She said aloud, “Let’s go get this son of a bitch.”

 
    CHAPTER THREE
    Wilson
    CASSIE LOWERED her head and strode down the hallway toward the interrogation room. She could see Behaunek, Sheriff Puente, and Agent Rhodine gathered around two closed-circuit monitors in the communications center. As she passed them, Puente gave her a thumbs-up.
    A deputy swung the door open and whispered, “I’ll be just outside,” into her